Yesterday's Tomorrow Today
by Tovaras
Summary: This story was written for the Endless Reflection Challenge. Heero and Duo has been working together for the last 10 years, but a punch to the gut is enough to make Heero think about the road to where they are now.


**Yesterday's Tomorrow Today**

Title: Yesterday's Tomorrow Today  
Author: Golddragon85/Tovaras  
Anime: Gundam Wing  
Characters/pairing: 1x2 (HeeroxDuo), Implied 3x4 (TrowaxQuatre)

Disclaimer: I own nothing besides the words I've managed to cough up writing the story. The characters and original story belongs to their respective owners.

xoxoxox

"Hey Heero?"

"Mhmmm?"

"Remember that time when you punched me in the stomach when we were trying to stop the Mariemaia army from dropping a colony on earth?"

Heero looked up from his laptop with a raised eyebrow, not sure if he had heard the long-haired man correct. "… Could you repeat that?"

Duo smirked as he turned from his spot on the balcony, leaning his back against the railing so he could gaze into the small living-room, taking in the sight of his lover working.

"It just came to mind. The time you punched me in the stomach to stop me from following you. Kind of a dick-move though."

The Japanese man sighed and shook his head, quickly saving his work before standing up to join his lover outside. "Does this has anything to do with the fact that you were completely over-run on that last mission with the Preventers? Because I am fairly sure everyone told you not to go into that area alone."

"Totally had it under control," Duo quipped, flashing Heero a grin before leaning against his lover as warm, strong arms wrapped themselves carefully around his midsection from behind.

"Totally," Heero replied dryly before letting one of his hand slip under Duo's shirt, carefully brushing his fingers over the bandage wrapped around the other man's torso and down over his stomach.

"… How does it feel?"

"Hurts a bit when I laugh, but its okay," Duo murmured, moving his hand down Heero's hand, giving it a squeeze over his shirt.

"… I'm okay, Heero. You can't kill the God of Death."

"Maybe so," Heero said softly, nuzzling gently at Duo's neck.

"But you have given me a couple of scares over the years."

"Me?" Duo couldn't help the laugh that escaped him, smirking some as he turned around in Heero's arms so he could wrap his own arms around his neck.

"Heero Yuy, you have absolutely no room to talk with all the stunts you pulled, and am still pulling I may add."

Heero couldn't help the smirk that showed up on his own lips, leaning in to kiss away the impish smile on his lover's lips.

"Maybe," he murmured softly against the soft, warm lips, closing his eyes as he thought back to that day.

They hadn't been together, not then. Heero had too much baggage he needed to sort out and Duo had his own demons to tame, but Heero would readily admit that he was fond of the braided teen even then.

Duo had been the first one to extend his hand, the first one to offer him something without wanting anything back. Heero himself had been bad about it at the start, taking advantages of Duo whenever it was beneficial to the mission, but he had learned.

It had taken time and a lot of work, but Heero had learned.

When the war had ended, Heero had gone his own way, but when the second war had started, Duo had been the first one Heero had sought out. It had only been natural: they had been friends, maybe even best friends, during the first war and Heero knew exactly what Duo was capable of.

He trusted the braided man with his life.

That's why, when the situation called for it, he had been ready to do anything to keep Duo out of harms way.

He could not let Duo risk his life if he could help him.

Still, punching Duo in the gut had been the hardest thing Heero had ever done, despite the mindset he had put himself in in order to get the job done, so to speak.

 _"_ _That's one for one."_

He still remembered those words so clearly along with the look on Duo's face. The disbelief, the look of betrayal…

"Heero?"

Heero slowly blinked his eyes as Duo's hand suddenly waved itself in front of his face, a look of concern on the braided man's handsome face.

"You vanished from me for a moment there," he murmured, stilling the waving hand as he seemed to have gotten Heero's attention, bringing it to rest against Heero's cheek instead.

"… You okay?"

"… I never said how… Sorry I was," Heero murmured, looking down at Duo's shirt-clad stomach. "… I never apologized."

"Really." Duo gave Heero a look before he used the hand on Heero's cheek to slap him lightly; not hard, just enough to get his attention.

"Stop it. That was over ten years ago. I was pissed when you did it, yes, but I get it. I get your reasoning."

Heero just continued to look down at Duo's abdomen, making Duo frown some. He placed his hand underneath Heero's chin and made him look up, locking his cobalt eyes with Heero's own Prussian blue ones. "Hey… What brought this on?"

The Japanese man opened his mouth, eyes still looking into Duo's before he snapped his lips shut with an almost auditable sound. "Duo. Don't ever die on my watch."

The braided man couldn't prevent the small chuckle that escaped his mouth. "What?"

"I punched you then, to keep you safe. It took a lot for me to do that because-," Heero started, hesitating as he struggled with finding his words. "-because you were my best friend back then. You are more now so I could never do that again. I know your skills, I know you know what you are doing, but finding you like that, face down, being kicked… Duo, I could have killed them. I would have killed them if not for Wufei."

"Hey, snap out of that mindset, buddy," Duo said, keeping his hand on Heero's chin.

"I am here and I am okay. I'm a Preventer, just like you. It was a calculated risk that paid off. Sure, breaking ribs, being beaten up and stuff, it hurts like hell, but I can take it. Because it meant, for one, a bunch of kids and women were freed from their goddamned human trafficking ring and two, a nice distraction for you guys to come and catch them in the act."

"It was still a risk and it was still you."

"I know you hated it, buddy," Duo murmured before smiling, leaning in to give Heero a small peck on the lips.

"I would have given you so much shit if it was you who had done it. But I was there, I am taking the consequences. I didn't mean for my thoughts to go south like they did, I just kind of… I thought it was funny. In a way."

"Sorry if I find nothing humorous about it," Heero grumbled, making Duo chuckle.

"Oh, Heero… I'm sorry, okay? I mean, good things came from it this time and good things came out of it back then too. We stopped another war, we saved Relena, and we helped a poor kid who was being manipulated by an asshole. We reunited Quatre and Trowa in all their sticky, gooey, lovely-dovely glory and-", Duo said before stealing another, deeper kiss.

"You came back to me again."

Heero merely nodded, taking as much as he was giving as he felt Duo kiss him again, tightening the grip around his lover even further.

"I cannot loose you," he whispered softly against the warm lips, closing his eyes as he focused on the feel of Duo's body against his own, feeling the warmth that seemed to always radiate from him.

They had grown so much after the war, both mentally and physically.

Two skinny boys that had been forced to grow up before they were supposed to, thrust into a war they were not supposed to handle, but still did, simply because nobody would miss them.

Trained and molded by people and fate, given a responsibility that was far beyond them, but they did it anyway.

Nobody else wanted to.

Now, Heero had more than he ever thought he would have.

He had a steady job with the Preventers where he could not only watch the good work they had done as children, but he would learn more about people.

He had his own small apartment that he shared with a man he had not only grown to trust as a teenager, but come to love as a young adult.

He had a lover, as warm and giving as he had always been, and that seem to grow more and more beautiful with each day, now that he knew what to look for.

He had more than he had ever dared wish for.

It made him all the more worried because now he had more to loose.

"You are not going to loose me," Duo murmured, smiling as he took a hold of one of Heero's hands and brought it to the bandaged side of his body, where the worse bruising marred his skin.

"You have always been good at protecting me, even when you thought I was a liability. But it was because you cared, that I became your liability. An obstacle. Remember that?"

"You were never-"

"I was a liability and I'll say that with pride. Because I know you cared so damn much for me that me being near you made you loose focus. I'm a little sorry about it too, but I'm mostly damn proud."

Duo let a cheeky grin play on his lips and pressed a kiss to Heero's lips.

"I'm the thorn in your side, eh?"

The kissed turned firmer, more insistent as soon as Duo stopped speaking, a sharp nip added to his bottom lip from the Japanese man.

"Not a thorn," he growled, his Prussian eyes locking with Duo's even as they kissed. "Never a thorn. Never say that."

"Okay," Duo chuckled, reaching up to grasp Heero's head with both hands, keeping him still.

"Now I know you are thinking too much, handsome. You are too sensitive on my behalf and taking things a little too literal."

He smiled as Heero looked at him, hands perfectly still on Duo's hips while the intense look in the Japanese man's eyes slowly turned more insecure, more vulnerable. It was part of the "humanization-process" Heero had gone through as the man had slowly, but steadily tried to make himself a part of what was called a "normal life". Duo knew better; there was no way that the two of them, or any of the Gundam pilots for that matter, could have a normal life. But they could make it as normal as they could for themselves and so far, it was working out just fine.

"Come on, now. Lets go so you can find out for yourself just how fine I am and how much of a "thorn" I am," he added as his smile turned from warm to more impish, his hands trailing down over Heero's cheeks and jaw, running them down over his neck, his shoulders and down his arms until he reached his lover's hands, grasping them.

"Though I'm sure you will stab your "thorn" into me."

The look in Heero's eyes quickly turned from vulnerable to a more predatory gaze as his lips tugged into a smirk. "… You have my attention."

"You betcha I do," Duo smirked as he started walking backwards into the living-room, tugging his lover towards the bedroom.

"And I'm going to keep that attention all night if I get a say in it."

And if there was one thing Duo never did, it was lie.

Despite Duo's reassurances, Heero held back slightly as they tumbled on the bed, not wanting to cause his lover more harm. Besides, he had every intention of showering his lover with affection and attention, exploring the familiar planes of Duo's body with his hands, then lips and tongue as they gradually shed their clothes.

The lovemaking was slow, almost as if it was their first time all over again and Heero did not stop until Duo was reduced to a quivering mess underneath him, crying out his name as he reached his peak. Only then did he let himself go, spilling himself inside Duo's body with a silent groan.

As Duo fell asleep, Heero remained awake; carefully stroking his fingers against the braided mans cheek, brushing some of the hair from Duo's fringe away from his face so he could look at him.

Eleven years…

It had been eleven years since Duo had entered his life in all his black-clothed, smiling glory.

It has been ten years since Heero had come for him before the last war, rekindling their friendship and that hidden spark that had always been there.

It has been nine years since they had joined the preventers together and just five years since they had decided to explore whatever it was that were between them.

Heero couldn't help but chuckle a little bit as he compared the teenager Duo had been to the man he was now, finding that very little had changed, at least appearance-wise.

One thing was for sure though; Duo was as handsome as he had always been, the years of maturing and growing only helping in filling out the features as he grew taller.

Heero continued to watch Duo sleep as the minutes ticked by, letting his hand run down over his lover's cheek, down his neck, shoulder and finally down his arm, much like Duo had done to him hours earlier.

Peaking out from under the beddings were the bandages that were wrapped around his lover's upper abdomen, making Heero's breath hitch in his throat for a second.

He had seen Duo injured many times before and he knew he would see his lover get injured again in the future, but for some reason that particular place was sending shivers down his spine.

Logically he knew he was just reacting to Duo's earlier banter, but the comment had stirred something inside him. It had made him think about just how easily Duo gave himself to everything, even at the risk of his own life. He knew Duo didn't think about it like that, that he did the things because they were the right things do it, but it was that kind of thinking that lead him to become injured.

His unrelenting blind faith in the fact that "everything will be okay".

The man was a good planner, Heero knew that from experience, but he also knew that Duo also had a tendency to "wing it" and making things up as he went, based on the information he sat with when scanning his surroundings.

It was why they worked so well together, the other agents said.

Heero's critical way of thinking, planning out each and every scenario he could think off down to the tee mixed with Duo's free-thinking and making things up on the spot in case something unexpected happened.

One would think that the two of them would clash, but because they trusted each other so much, Heero was able to lay his trust in Duo just like Duo easily placed his trust on Heero, no matter how many times Heero had broken it in the past.

"The past is in the past," Duo had once told him while still in the early stages of their more romantic relationship.

"We can't change what happened yesterday, but we do have a say in what's going to happen tomorrow by the things we do today. After all, today is the tomorrow you were so damn worried about yesterday."

And God knew how much Heero had worked to make sure that he could be the type of person that Duo could trust and love.

Duo has never been afraid to show him affection, friendship and, as their relationship took that turn, love.

He was never afraid to say "I love you", never afraid to speak his mind and Heero needed that. It was a way to learn and to be reassured that there was someone out there that loved him without hesitation. That he was not alone.

Letting his fingers trail further down, Heero touched the upper parts of the bandages carefully, knowing that the skin underneath was purple from the bruises, the ribs fractured. As he let his fingers lay there, he could also feel the way Duo's chest moved underneath them, feel the way the braided man breathed in and out slowly, completely at ease and relaxed.

Duo was okay.

He had been okay back then, despite the punch to the gut, and he was okay now.

Inhaling deeply, Heero leaned down and dropped a kiss to Duo's forehead, taking a moment to just feel the heat underneath his lips, the hair from his lover's bangs brushing and tickling against Heero's skin before he pulled back. He didn't move far though, merely making himself comfortable next to Duo and carefully wrapping his arm around him. As if on cue, Duo made a pleased sigh as the back of his throat before turning and cuddling up against Heero, face pressed against his shoulder as the braided man slept on.

With the feel of Duo's breath against his skin, Heero finally allowed the last tension drain from his body, allowing a small smile on his lips as he carefully snuck his other arm underneath Duo's head so he could wrap it around his shoulders.

Despite everything that had happened to them, to Duo, everything was okay.

They were here, together, safely tucked in each other's arms. The bruise would fade, as would any bruises that could appear in the future, but Heero tried to keep Duo's optimism and always encouraging words in mind.

And Heero would make damn sure that everything he did in the 'today' would ensure that Duo would remain by his side when tomorrow came.

Because for Heero, Duo was worth everything he could give right now.


End file.
